Quick question about Core2 processors

[Squidward]

The question I'm wondering about is whether the dual core E6850 which is clocked at 3.0Ghz would have any real world performance advantage over the quad Q6600 running at 2.4Ghz? Will mainly be using the system for gaming and media encoding. I know the quad should be the prime choice for the media work but is there any big performance benefits from the dual core.

Haven't seen any benchmarks with both chips in comparison and I'm making a purchase today.

Many thanks for responding!

Mike

 

[JAG87]

get the q6600 and set fsb to 333

have your cake and eat it too

 

[Tempered81]

which games do you play?

heres a quake 4 comparison:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/...6&model2=882&chart=424

 

[RussianSensation]

If you are going to get a dual core, then get the E8400 instead of the E6850. It runs cooler, overclocks better, etc.

More likely than not the performance difference between a quad core and dual core in encoding is going to be far greater than the performance difference between them in gaming, because your videocard will be the more limiting component in games.

With that said, if you buy a dual core, you can always put the price difference towards a faster graphics card which will benefit gaming significantly.

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
If you are going to get a dual core, then get the E8400 instead of the E6850. It runs cooler, overclocks better, etc.

More likely than not the performance difference between a quad core and dual core in encoding is going to be far greater than the performance difference between them in gaming, because your videocard will be the more limiting component in games.

With that said, if you buy a dual core, you can always put the price difference towards a faster graphics card which will benefit gaming significantly.

my vote is also for the e8400, its cheaper than both the 6850 & q6600 and overclocks much nice while running cooler

 

[Squidward]

Alas, my choice is only between these 2 processors. It's a pre-built system I'm getting from my company at a price I just can't refuse.

 

[hclarkjr]

what motherboard are you using? if your board supports the new E8400 that would be good choice but if it doesn't i would get the E6850

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well it depends on the game engine really, for instance Crysis' engine was developed to optimize all the cores your system has, a lot of other engines (the majority in fact) are built for 1 or at most 2 cores to do all the work, so in this case choosing between the 2 CPUs is based on the engines. On a later note however, hopefully more game developers are building their engines to utilize multiple cores, so as a more future ready investment, I'd say the Q6600 and like JAG said, just OC it ^^.

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: Squidward
Alas, my choice is only between these 2 processors. It's a pre-built system I'm getting from my company at a price I just can't refuse.

In that case I would go with the Quad

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: Riverhound777

Originally posted by: Squidward
Alas, my choice is only between these 2 processors. It's a pre-built system I'm getting from my company at a price I just can't refuse.

In that case I would go with the Quad

Well it still depends on what he needs the cpu to do, even with media encoding not all software was made to utilize multiple cores and in that case a quad will have no apparent advantage over a dual core, it'll run hotter and use more energy and cost more too. But if he has recent encoding software and his game engines can fully utilize multiple cores than yeah, the Q6600 hands down.

 

[Squidward]

Thanks for all the input! I'm going to go ahead with the quad processor. Especially as I've been itchin' to play Crysis.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Have fun with the Q6600, I know I am

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: Squidward
Thanks for all the input! I'm going to go ahead with the quad processor. Especially as I've been itchin' to play Crysis.

:laugh: Good luck with that!

There is no hardware today that can actually "play" Crysis.

But you can certainly try - in my case, between 15 - 25 FPM @1680x1050, DirectX 10, 64-bit.

 

[krnmastersgt]

You can very easily play Crysis, now no computer anyone we know has can play Crysis at it's most detailed and best looking and run completely smooth at all times.